'As the south side goes, so goes Stockton'

"South Stockton" can sometimes be a label - for a sometimes-troubled, sometimes-hopeful, always-proud portion of a city.

"South Stockton" can sometimes be a label - for a sometimes-troubled, sometimes-hopeful, always-proud portion of a city.

But it's a catch-all label that not always descriptive and accurate.

South Stockton is not one place. It has pockets of poverty, for sure, and some of them large and ugly. But also it also has tidy neighborhoods, well-kept parks and proud residents who wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Record reporter Kevin Parrish, over the course of several months, delved into life in south Stockton in a series of articles that ends with today's front-page look at potential solutions to problems in the area. The past reports all are available on recordnet.com.

As a postscript, here are some lasting thoughts and images from the stories:

» Most of south Stockton is Latino. The total is up to 90 percent in some areas, almost 70 percent overall, and 35 percent are foreign-born. This has created a city within the city.

Stockton has renamed Charter Way in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., but it is a street filled with Spanish-language businesses. Language barriers persist. As fast as the kids learn English, new arrivals without those skills arrive.

» There are two south Stockton stereotypes - one should be debunked, the other is true. (1.) The image of excessive crime doesn't fit. Detailed looks at reports and maps show there are pockets of very bad crime, but many areas where it is safer than other parts of the city. (2.) The image of extreme poverty is accurate. In some areas and on some streets, there are six, eight, 10 people to a house.

» Councilman Michael Tubbs, who represents the area, is trying to make a difference. And it's working. His personal outreach to Latinos in District 6 and his Reinvent South Stockton initiative has been impressive. In the past three decades, nobody has tried to do what he is doing right now. It bears watching.

» The homeless problem is being met by a concentration of services. South Stockton has a serious issue, but the agencies and people working to help those in need is impressive.

» Change will be difficult in some instances - but it can occur.

The south side is old. It is filled with small property lots and small houses. It is the cheapest housing in town and will likely remain a gateway for many impoverished young families and immigrants.

For things to change in a meaningful way, two troubled government institutions - the bankrupt city of Stockton and the ever-challenged Stockton Unified - need to make a concentrated effort south of the Crosstown. They need to define this area as one of greater need and then create their own initiatives to improve conditions. More resources are needed in both cases.

In summary, south Stockton is facing the ultimate Catch-22 situations.

The city is bankrupt, not because of the south side, but having one-third of the city provide so little of the sales and property taxes hurts recovery - and distorts reality.

Stockton isn't a prosperous city of 300,000; it's probably half of that. But the services are needed for all 300,000 residents. Same with Stockton Unified. It's greatest challenges are in its poorest neighborhoods, many of them with English-language learners.

How do you focus south of the Crosstown when there are so many needs districtwide? And yet the south side outcomes drag down and drain SUSD.

Tubbs and others have said: "As the south side goes, so goes Stockton." They are right. Until those in other parts of Stockton accept and understand the whole city, we are doomed to separate-but-unequal communities forever linked in an uneasy marriage.